ATHENS, Ga. – Head Coach Lu Harris-Champer has added Rick Pauly as an assistant coach for the Georgia softball team. Pauly comes to Georgia having spent the last three seasons as a volunteer assistant coach at USC Upstate.

“I am thrilled to have Rick as a member of the staff,” Harris-Champer said. “He has a proven track record of success and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the program. With his guidance, I believe that our players, specifically our pitchers, will continue to grow in every aspect of the game.”

"I've always respected the Georgia softball program and how Coach Harris-Champer runs it,” Pauly said. “It is an honor to now be a part of it. UGA has always competed at a high level in the SEC and it is the dream of every coach to compete against the best. I look forward to helping the Bulldog softball program continue its high level of achievement".

In his three years at USC Upstate, Pauly coached two A-Sun Freshmen of the Year and last season coached the A-Sun Pitcher of the Year, an NFCA All-Region selection and two First Team A-Sun selections. Last season, he helped USC Upstate the fifth-best ERA (1.55) in the nation on the way to a NCAA Regional appearance. Additionally, three Spartan pitchers had sub-2.00 ERAs.

Prior to his time at USC Upstate, Pauly spent one season as the pitching coach at South Carolina. He also severed as the head coach at Spartanburg Methodist College from 2004-09, leading the Lady Pioneers to back-to-back Junior College World Series appearances in 2008 and 2009.

In addition to his coaching experience, Pauly has a wealth of playing experience, playing with the nationally recognized ASA National Champions Madison Farm. As a player, Pauly competed in 11 ASA or ISC National and World Tournaments and also competed with Madison Farm at the U.S. Olympic Festival Games in 1987 and 1991. While still competing, Pauly was a State ASA Fastpitch Player Representative in Wisconsin and was also instrumental in the formation of the Western Wisconsin ISC Travel League. He is a former ASA Men’s Fastpitch All-American.

Since the completion of his playing days, Pauly has been involved in coaching fastpitch at all levels of the game. Focusing primarily on pitching, he has coached at the 14U, 16U, 18U and 18 Gold levels of travel ball, spending many years with the nationally ranked Lil' Saints of Phoenix, Ariz. While in Arizona, Pauly was a volunteer assistant coach in the Arizona high school ranks, leading nationally ranked programs at both Mountain Point and Desert Vista high schools in Phoenix. Upon moving to South Carolina, he coached travel ball, including helping start the Carolina Elite organization. He has remained an assistant with the Elite since the organization was founded in 2007.

Pauly has also served as the President of the Fastpitch Division of the Mountain Pointe Little League Association and the Ahwatukee Little League Association.

Pauly and his wife, Joan, have been married for 35 years. Their daughter, Sarah, a former All-American at Texas-Corpus Christi, splits time living in Florida and Japan as a professional pitcher and their son, Jesse, is an Animation Architect living in Phoenix, Ariz.